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Volleyball08/08/2016

Canada stun USA to set pace of men's Olympic volleyball tournament

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 8, 2016 – Canada provided the first upset of the men's volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when they stunned USA in straight sets as the competition kicked off on Sunday, with defending champions Russia, hosts Brazil plus Italy, Poland and Argentina opening their campaigns with victories.

Canada destroyed their southern neighbours - the Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallists and current holders of the FIVB World Cup - in straight sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-23) to set the pace for a most thrilling ten days of pool play in Rio.

Top Scoring Performances21 – Facundo Conte of Argentina v Iran on August 720 – Osniel Rendon of Cuba v Russia on August 718 – Wallace de Souza of Brazil v Mexico on August 717 – Ricardo Lucarelli of Brazil v Mexico on August 716 – Ivan Zaytsev of Italy v France on August 7

Top Individual Blocking Performances5 – Facundo Conte of Argentina v Iran on August 73 – Seyed Mousavi of Iran v Argentina on August 73 – Matteo Piano of Italy v France on August 73 – Emanuele Birarelli of Italy v France on August 73 – Matusz Bieniek of Poland v Egypt on August 73 – John Gordon Perrin of Canada v United States on August 73 – Artem Volvich of Russia v Cuba on August 73 – Maxim Mikhalyov of Russia v Cuba on August 73 – Osniel Melgarejo of Cuba v Russia on August 7

Top Individual Service Performances4 – Ricardo Lucarelli of Brazil v Mexico on August 7

Top Team Blocking Performances11 – Italy v France on August 710 – Russia v Cuba on August 710 – Argentina v Iran on August 79 – Canada v United States on August 7

Top Team Serving Performances9 – Brazil v Mexico on August 7

Highest Scoring Sets26-24 Argentina v Iran (2nd set) on August 725-23 Argentina v Iran (1st set) on August 725-23 Mexico v Brazil (1st Set) on August 725-23 Canada v United States (1st Set) on August 725-23 Canada v United States (3rd Set) on August 7